Thursday, 22 May 2014

Wryneck

When a Wryneck turned up at Boddam on Friday I thought it
would disappear as quickly as it came. Next day I was informed that it was
still in the same place so we made our way over and located the bird straight
away, feeding among the seaweed.

Now Wrynecks are not normally known for feeding in this
habitat, but are normally found in sunny open woodland in Europe. It no longer
breeding in England but may still be present and breeding in small numbers in
North East Scotland.

Although part of the woodpecker family it does not climb
tree trunks or drum. At first glance it looks like a small brown bird, bigger
than the house sparrows that were also feeding in the seaweed. When threaten it
defends its self with snaking twisting movements of the
neck -hence the name.

The plumage is patterned like lichen in a grey brown colour
with dark bands along the head and back. The tail is relatively long and has a
short bill. It spends a lot of time in trees well camouflaged but also comes
onto the ground to feed, hopping around.

On Monday I took another look not expecting the bird to be
present but it was and seemed content feeding on insects it found in the
seaweed. It was very confiding hence the photos. On Monday no other birder were
present, not a thing that would happen in England.

I still have a lot of photos to process and with a limited amount of space on my laptop hard drive. Hopefully soon I will be able to down load several hundred photos including the Night Heron I photographed at Raewick in April

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About Me

Shetland is a magical place to visit and even better to live in. You really feel close to nature, there is so much to see and learn. The landscape is for ever changing under the wind blown sky. Its a place where you can make a difference, where recording and undertaking wildlife surveys do make you feel that you are connecting with nature.
Shetland has to be one of the best UK destinations for photography. The light is so clear and crisp, the weather is constantly changing giving superb cloud formations.
Being a dark site destination Shetland is always going to be great for astrophotography, although very challenging with windy nights.
I use Nikon D610 , D7100 & Sony A7s cameras with a sigma 500 + 800 mm lenses as well as a 105 macro Nikon, Samyang 14 mm & 24mm .Contact shetsip@gmail.com